Trump’s supporters, who felt increasingly anxious or displaced in the prevailing consensus reality, could see what was happening. But those of us who were relatively at ease—our field of vision was obstructed. So we scoffed and mocked as Trump put a half nelson choke hold on reality.

– Brooke Gladstone, The Trouble with Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time (Workman Publishing, 2017)

Color print of a stylish African American woman with blue hair, a small hat, and blue accents on her clothing. Her partial shadow on the brown striped wallpaper is also blue.

"Girl with Blue Hair" by Blanche Grambs. Lithograph signed by artist, ca. 1935–43.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Art Collection, NYPL Digital Collections, image id 5181000.

The Trump administration is slashing the State Department’s annual human rights report — cutting sections about the rights of women, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community and more.

The goal appears to be a far thinner report that meets the minimum standards required by the law, according to documents obtained by POLITICO, as well as a current and a former State Department official who were familiar with the plan.

– Nahal Toosi, Politico, March 19, 2025

A lot of talk about the shadow library Libgen today in my socials because of Meta. In this context, Molly White has recommended an interesting open-access book: Joe Karaganis, ed., Shadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher Education (The MIT Press, 2018).

Photograph of two women and a child exiting a building with pots hanging on the outside wall. Maybe this was a place the Hungarian woman was considering?

“Mexican miner’s wife and child are visited by another miner’s wife (Hungarian) who is interested in starting a maternal health clinic there. Scotts Run, Bertha Hill, West Virginia” by Marion Post Walcott for the Farm Security Administration, 1938. NYPL Digital Collections, image id 58749987.

Carl T. Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, has written an excellent thread about his and his colleagues' experience of the White House’s attack on U.S. science and education.

Prices going up while the White House shrinks the economy. If stagflation is the goal, these people are geniuses.⛓️‍💥

Gaullism, loosely defined, long struck me as a French eccentricity that simply was. Now Trump’s and Vance’s posturing places France’s view of itself in the world and vis-à-vis U.S. defense structures in a new light. Instead of peculiar, not to mention expensive, it appears to have been prudent.

More animated satire by @Freeonis: “Oval Deception” (3 min.) at youtu.be…. Use the closed caption button (cc) for subtitles.🇺🇦

Brilliant new set by Josh Johnson: “The Only Way to Survive a Recession” (43 min) youtu.be…. 📺

Putin Playing Trump for a Fool Again

The 30-day partial cease fire that Putin and Trump agreed to is a one-sided joke.

Russia probably needs relief from strikes on its energy infrastructure more than Ukraine does because the former depends on energy to finance its war. Ukraine, at least, has made it through another winter, when attacks on its energy infrastructure hurt the worst. Moreover, its air defenses seem to be more effective than Russia’s.

The real kicker, though, are the accompanying demands and threats, which continue to assert Russia’s maximalist aim of destroying Ukrainian sovereignty by demanding it do nothing to improve its defense posture. Meanwhile, the White House and Kremlin “agreed to set up Russian and American expert groups to ‘resolve the war bilaterally,'” i.e., without Ukraine or the rest of Europe. Of course, the Kremlin issued yet another tired threat of “escalation.”

Will the White House side with Russia again, despite the Kremlin playing Trump for a fool? It wouldn’t surprise me, given that Trump has no advisors who will tell him what he needs to hear. I hope I’m wrong.

The rivers are full to bursting with melted snow and ice where I live, but there’s still snow, especially at higher elevations, and I felt like sharing something fun.

Postcard: Color drawing of a woman on her belly on a sled headed downhill. Nearby are three women and two men seated on a long toboggan with a steering wheel headed downhill. They are all in fashionable woolens and sweaters, two with fur coats, etc. In the background are skiers, one fallen down, some horse drawn sleighs, and so on.

Postcard by Xavier Sander. Publisher: B.M., Paris. Early 20th century. Repository: John L. Monroe Collection, The Newberry Library, NL1267WV.

“After Trump DEI Order, Navajo Code Talkers Disappear From Military Websites,” www.axios.com….

From 1942 to 1945, the Navajo code talkers were instrumental in every major Marine Corps operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

A 1943 Photo of Welders for Women's History Month

Four African American women welders employed to work on the Liberty ship SS George Washington Carver, kneeling and holding welding equipment. Bits of the port and shipyard are also visible, as are three men, two black and one white.

“Skilled women workers helped build SS George Washington Carver.” Photo by E. F. Joseph for the Office of War Information, Kaiser Shipyards, Richmond, California, ca. 1943.

With nearly 1,000 Negro women employed as burners, welders, scalers and in other capacities at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, Calif., women war workers played an important part in the construction of the Liberty Ship, SS George Washington Carver, launched on May 7, 1943. Welders Alivia Scott, Hattie Carpenter and Flossie Burtos await an opportunity to weld their first piece of steel on the ship.

Repository: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYPL Digital Collections, image id 1206635.

Bare trees and melting snow. Looking downward toward a river, which is mot visible because of the fog-like evaporating snow.

The snow is both melting and evaporating into a fog.

America hasn’t felt this upside down since I was a child in an internment camp.

– George Takei

Seen in grocery store: Old guy prolly dependent on Social Security, etc., wearing a black windbreaker marked ICE. Maybe supposed to look cool or intimidating, like a big swastica, if you’re into that sort of thing, but it felt more like a big “I am an asshole” or “Kick me” sign.

“JACL condemns Trump erasure of 442nd and 100th Infantry Battalion,” asnews.com….

“The 100th and 442nd remain the most decorated military units in U.S. history for their size and length of service,” the Japanese American Citizens League said in a statement. “Their heroism, despite the racism and incarceration their families faced at home, is a testament to their loyalty and sacrifice, as is their unit motto, ‘Go For Broke.'”

“Idaho Teacher Told To Remove ‘Everyone Is Welcome Here’ Sign From Classroom,” www.today.com…

There are only two opinions on this sign: Everyone is welcome here, or not everyone is welcome here," argues Sarah Inama, a sixth-grade history teacher.

Poster from an Antiwar, Lesbian, Feminist Fugitive, ca. 1970

Black and white poster showing a drawing of Susan Saxe and the following message from her: 'First, a greeting to all my sisters. Courage, especially to all of my sisters underground in America, stay free, stay strong. I intend to fight on in every way as a lesbian, a feminist and an Amazon. The love I share with my sisters is a far more formidable weapon than the police state can bring against us. Keep growing, keep strong. I am a free woman, and I can keep strong. Pass the word. I am unafraid.'

Poster with a message by Susan Saxe, depicted in the drawing.1 Based on the text, the poster is probably from around 1970, when its author, a Brandeis senior and antiwar activist, went on the lam after robbing a bank and a National Guard Armory. On the FBI’s most wanted list, she was captured in 1975 and did seven years in prison.2 Her roommate, Katherine Ann Power, surrendered in 1980.3

  1. Via Library of Congress, Yanker Poster Collection, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016648550/. ↩︎

  2. Susan Saxe has a sparse Wikipedia entry. She was Nancy Gertner’s first case, which the latter writes about in In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate Beacon Press, 2011), chap. 1 (sample with salient details). ↩︎

  3. Lucinda Franks, “Return of the Fugitive,” The New Yorker, June 5, 1994, https://archive.ph/5mJ5P. ↩︎

I do not understand Democratic caucus politics in the U.S. Senate, but it seems to me that if Sen. Schumer lost the majority of his caucus on the cloture vote today, that ought to have consequences for his leadership position. Are there any rumblings of this sort in the Democratic caucus?

Deeply disappointed in the votes of my two senators for cloture and for submitting to a GOP budget that will harm New Hampshire’s residents. Yes, we’re a purple state. No, they should not be putting their jobs ahead of the state’s residents, let alone democracy. #NH #Shaheen #Hassan

This change says a lot about the ambitions and delusions of the current Trumpy regime:

Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed information about prominent Black, Hispanic and female service members and topics such as the Civil War from its website, part of an effort across the Defense Department to remove all references to diversity, equity and inclusion from its online presence.

–WaPo on Bluesky